Monday, January 30, 2012

Amy Gutmann, Ph.D., Chair, and James W. Wagner, Ph.D., Vice Chair, of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, have authored an essay in the new issue of Lancet titled, "Moral science and the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues." They call for swift action on the Commission's recent human subjects protection recommendations, highlighting some of the recommendations related to the increasingly globalized nature of medical research. http://tinyurl.com/86l77p2

In the new issue of Nature, Drs. Harold Varmus and Ed Harlow of the National Cancer Institute discussed the provocative questions initiative, an innovative effort to open up neglected areas of oncology research.http://tinyurl.com/7hlmle6

The February issue of Academic Medicine is now available on-line. This issue introduces a new annual feature called Key Indicators in Academic Medicine (KIAMS). Seven distinct indicators are highlighted.http://tinyurl.com/yjybhlm

1. A Suggested Framework for Analysis2. Physician Workforce in the United States3. Number of Program Year 1 Residents in Accredited Residency Programs4. Matriculants to Medical Schools in the United States5. Education Costs and Student Indebtedness at U.S. Medical Schools6. Gender Diversity in Medical School Applicants and Matriculants7. Ethnic Origin and Racial Composition of Hispanic Medical School Applicants and Matriculants

John R. Raymond Sr., M.D., president and CEO of the Medical College of Wisconsin, authored an op-ed column in Sunday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the role of NIH in funding medical advances. After discussing the important health and economic benefits of the nation's biomedical research investment, Dr. Raymond concluded, "We all want to reduce the deficit. But let's not jeopardize the next generation of cures, and further stress the economic health of our communities today, by cutting funding for medical research. Please encourage our representatives to oppose cuts to NIH funding."http://tinyurl.com/7lph5hg

Friday's issue of the Wall Street Journal featured an article on Wellpoint's investment in primary care. According to the article, "The nation's second-largest health insurer is shaking up its approach to paying doctors, putting a major investment behind the idea that spending more for better primary care can save money down the road. Starting this summer, WellPoint Inc., which insures some 34 million Americans, will offer primary-care doctors a fee increase, typically of around 10%, with the possibility of additional payments that could boost what they get for treating the patients it covers by as much as 50%. The new approach could pour an additional $1 billion or more into primary care, which WellPoint is betting will pay off in the form of fewer emergency-room visits and hospital stays."http://tinyurl.com/7crgk2w

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Recently introduced legislation to reverse the NIH's public access policy has reignited the debate over both the NIH's policy and the open access publishing model. An article in the New York Times reported on advocates of "open science." According to advocates, the current scientific publishing "system is hidebound, expensive and elitist, they say. Peer review can take months, journal subscriptions can be prohibitively costly, and a handful of gatekeepers limit the flow of information. It is an ideal system for sharing knowledge, said the quantum physicist Michael Nielsen, only 'if you’re stuck with 17th-century technology.' Dr. Nielsen and other advocates for 'open science' say science can accomplish much more, much faster, in an environment of friction-free collaboration over the Internet. And despite a host of obstacles, including the skepticism of many established scientists, their ideas are gaining traction."http://tinyurl.com/78apwyy

The World Health Organization reported last week that "India appears to have interrupted wild poliovirus transmission, completing one year without polio since its last case, in a 2-year-old girl in the state of West Bengal, on 13 January 2011. India was once recognized as the world’s epicentre of polio." If confirmed, "the number of polio-endemic countries, those which have never stopped indigenous wild poliovirus transmission, will then be reduced to a historical low of three: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan."http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2012/polio_20120113/en/index.html

Behavioral and social sciences play an important role in educating future physicians, according to a new report from the AAMC. The report explains how physicians can apply concepts from these disciplines in clinical care to improve individual and public health. The report builds upon previous work to offer educators competency frameworks, methods for evaluating professional behaviors, educational strategies, and performance outcomes. The expert panel that developed the report was chaired by Rita Charon, M.D., Ph.D., of Columbia and a past chair of the AAMC Council of Academic Societies. The report has informed the recommendations of the MCAT review panel and complements the AAMC-HHMI report, the "Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians.http://tinyurl.com/87k8ztahttp://www.hhmi.org/grants/pdf/08-209_AAMC-HHMI_report.pdf

Friday, January 13, 2012

ORCID stands for Open Researcher & Contributor ID. ORCID aims to solve the author or contributor name ambiguity problem in scholarly communications by creating a central registry of unique identifiers for individual researchers and an open and transparent linking mechanism between ORCID and other current author ID schemes.

As of 2012, 300 organizations had joined ORCID as participants. Dykes Library is excited to participate in ORCID and to help realize the potential benefits to KU.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 calls upon the Office of Science and Technology Policy to coordinate with agencies to develop policies that assure widespread public access to and long-term stewardship of the results of federally funded unclassified research.

The OSTP has put out two formal Requests for Information; one on the subject of “Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications” and the other on “Public Access to Digital Data.”

The deadline for comments is January 12, 2012. The A. R. Dykes Library will be submitting comments to both requests. The library staff is available to provide assistance to any faculty, staff or students who choose to respond.

1. We recommend you tailor your responses to be as personalized and direct as possible. Include examples and supporting documentation where appropriate.

2. This is your opportunity to influence public policy, so please consider taking time to craft a response.

In a study that investigated the challenges of disseminating clinical research findings in peer-reviewed biomedical journals, Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that fewer than half of a sample of trials primarily or partially funded by the National Institutes of Health were published within 30 months of completing the clinical trial. The findings appear in the January issue of the British Medical Journal, which focuses on the topic of unpublished evidence. http://lists.aamc.org/t/153809/795361/15343/0/

The Washington Post and Associated Press on Monday featured an article about ethical challenges in clinical trials being conducted in India. The article reported, "Since India eased guidelines for conducting drug trials in 2005, the number of Indians participating has shot up to 150,000 from close to zero, as international drug companies take advantage of lower costs here. But questions about the consent process have fueled fears that many Indians are entering the trials without knowing the risks." An Indian journal editor quoted in the article said, ""India is emerging as a hub for drug trials, and Indian patients are like guinea pigs...The ethical review panels are bogus...The drug control authority approves almost all the trial applications without rigorous scrutiny. And poor, unsuspecting patients get duped, while doctors and hospitals earn money."http://lists.aamc.org/t/153809/795361/15339/0/